Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

For much of 2013 I watched the press write articles about how the YouTube “MCNs” (multi-channel networks) were doomed and tried to square that with the data I was watching at the one I invested in, Maker Studios, who has had one hell of a year. Developing O&O (owned & operated) businesses (outside of YouTube).

Networking 366

Networking Media Content Customer 366

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2018

I remind founders that the no’s come early because it’s super easy to qualify out a deal that you know is unlikely due to stage, focus, geography, competitive deal you’ve done or even just the fact that you’re too busy right now. When you read about the funding in the press it sounds like it was a walk in the park. It only takes one.

Press 232

Press Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 232

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

Here’s how it goes: You have a business development group with two people. So they create a task list of all the marketing activities an organization can do: press releases, web site updates, customer case studies, blog posts, daily Tweets, Facebook fan page, attending conferences, etc. They’re tasked with doing … marketing.

Activity 164

Activity Conference Press Case Study 164

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2011

Are you cynical about their chances in the market just because they seem to be hot in the press and that bugs you? I’m a news junkie and love to watch the Sunday morning talk shows like Meet the Press, This Week with Christiane Amanpour or Shields & Brooks on The News Hour on Fridays. I hear views like this all the time.

Startup 313

Startup Press Writing News 313

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2009

We hadn’t even thought about having a customer support line or who would staff it. Our customers were generally happy but they were pushing us hard for promised features. Our business development discussions took longer than planned. We downsized, developed processes and found our groove. We developed deep kinship.

Startup 331

Startup Press Customer Custom 331

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Yesterday I wrote a post about The Silent Benefits of PR in which I pointed out that most young companies I encounter don’t fully grasp the benefits of PR because they are less measurable than product milestones or customer acquisition analyses (like CAC/LTV). It’s a continual process.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2019

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. In fact, this article was driven by a startup press release I saw a while back, highlighting a startup’s “geo-fencing technology” as a new basis for discount coupons.

Marketing 97

Marketing Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 97

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

When a product is truly unique and demanded a retailer willingly promotes and sells it en masse in part because it does get margin on the good but also because it brings customers in the door who spend on other products. Ariel understood her customer?—?the So Why Does This Matter? the modern buyer of home products?—?better

Product 296

Product Course Customer Custom 296

socalTECH

JUNE 11, 2018

For our interview this morning, we caught up with Scot Lawrie , the President and technical Co-founder of Los Angeles-based Coverfly (www.coverfly.com), and John Rhodes , Coverfly's head of Marketing and Business Development, to learn a bit more about the early stage, bootstrapped startup focused on Hollywood script writers. What is Coverfly?

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Hollywood Platform Competition 100

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

You help them on stories, act as a source, develop real relationships, read their stories and eventually when you have news they’re more willing to have a conversation. I pointed out the fact that they only ever talked to the press when the had an announcement and that it was a continual process. It’s a continual process.

Startup 349

Startup Writing Press Blogging 349

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

There is nothing more pure than building a product, putting it out in the world and seeing paying customers using your product and in some cases loving it. As a startup in this phase you often raise capital, get press, hire staff and everything feels possible. How long does it take me to pay back my original customer acquisition costs?

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 18, 2019

An Insider’s Perspective “Bird Zero” that are custom designed by the company There is a story arc of the electric scooter market that took the world by storm in 2018, was second-guessed late in the year and has quietly re-emerged as a powerful force of growth where few really appreciate the speed and scale of what has happened.

Santa Monica 250

Santa Monica Venice Competition Software Review 250

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2017

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. In fact, this article was driven by a startup press release I saw a while back, highlighting a startup’s “geo-fencing technology” as a new basis for discount coupons.

Tips 75

Tips Marketing Technical Review Startup 75

Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

It’s an interesting tactic that seems unusual in a competitive business environment, but makes sense when considering the constantly expanding sea of cyber threats—and solutions—through which organizations must wade. Cyber industry alliances, the thinking goes, could make customers’ cyber defenses stronger and easier to manage.

Press 40

Press Symantec Organization IBM 40

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2014

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. In fact, this article was driven by a startup press release I saw recently, highlighting a startup’s “geo-fencing technology” as a new basis for discount coupons.

Technical Review 103

Technical Review Tips Marketing Entrepreneur 103

InfoChachkie

APRIL 13, 2015

However, habitual discounting at a startup is self-defeating, as it reinforces your customers'' proclivity to delay their purchases, patiently waiting for you to reduce your prices. Some of these tactics include: Total Cost Of Ownership – Price is only one element that determines the total cost incurred by customers to deploy your solution.

Pricing 100

Pricing Startup Sales SaaS 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2013

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. In fact, this article was driven by a startup press release I just saw today, highlighting a startup’s “geo-fencing technology” as a new basis for discount coupons.

Startup 103

Startup Marketing Social Media Technical Review 103

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

In the initial phases of any new market you’re developing a product (hopefully with a minimal set of features), getting feedback from customers, refining your product based on user feedback and then re-launching your product. Markets develop for a complex set of factors that are often beyond all of our control.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Photo by Hope House Press - Leather Diary Studio on Unsplash It’s also true that there will be tough moments in your company’s journey where you will want to be able to carry people behind the tough decisions you want. No great board wants you distracted with doing a whole bunch of financial analysis that is strictly for board purposes.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

But the thing I am most proud of about Rob is that he has taken a company with a uniquely talented founder & CTO – Nick Halstead – and managed to build a very tight working relationship with Nick where we drive world-class product development without having the usual founder / CEO conflicts. Ask for short conference calls.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2011

Any company who develops products reliant on iOS spends weeks crapping their pants before WWDC. You need to be “known” for your sources of differentiation so even when the press declares you dead because Facebook, Google, Apple, Twitter are going to eat your lunch they are describing the threat in terms of them copying YOU.

Google 325

Google Press Marketing Content 325

Jason Nazar

JULY 1, 2016

Add in public company demands, lawsuit targets, & millions of customers to continually satisfy, and you have to have great respect for those doing it well. A smaller set of stakeholders should be empowered to make bolder decisions held accountable by customers instead of surveys. Many times this is a great use of capital resources.

Entrepreneur 55

Entrepreneur Company Companies Outsource Development 55

socalTECH

JULY 7, 2011

In order to do that, what we did is instead of focusing on the front end apps, we worked on developing our own, back end unified communications platform, which gives us a the ability to offer telephony and text messaging, file sharing, and video conferencing. It is a competitive environment. Bryan Hertz: That's a good question.

Social Network 259

Social Network Platform Networking Google 259

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 1, 2010

For instance, if you were trying to establish a partnership with a BDC, the front door would be a direct inquiry to the VP of Business Development. A startup is far more likely to respond to an inquiry, especially if they are in your industry yet are not competitive. When they answer, ask for the person mentioned in the press release.

Company 124

Company Companies Email Press 124

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2011

Today I’m announcing that GRP Partners is doubling down on the Twitter ecosystem by investing in DataSift , a company who provides a real-time data platform and tools to third-party developers and corporations. I believe this makes Twitter the perfect ecosystem for development. It is an awesome example of the power of implicit data.

Platform 307

Platform News Startup Invest 307

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

A great leader knows customers and has direct relationships with them. She can anticipate reactions to price increases or product changes by customers and she can sustain competitive challenges because she knows the customer will stick by her. The reality of most startups is about survival. Team Building.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

One of the readers asked my opinion around sharing your startup concept: My first question has always been - how do you protect your idea while shopping around for feedback, partners, developers, etc.? You’ll learn about competitive products that exist or are being built. Lots of thoughts here. You’ll get suggestions for improvements.

Startup 211

Startup IP Ideas Patents 211

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

One of the readers asked my opinion around sharing your startup concept: My first question has always been - how do you protect your idea while shopping around for feedback, partners, developers, etc.? You’ll learn about competitive products that exist or are being built. Lots of thoughts here. You’ll get suggestions for improvements.

Startup 198

Startup IP Ideas Patents 198

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

Online social game network; make their own games (FarmVille, Mafia Wars, FrontierVille) in addition to allowing third-party developers to access network. Customers Include: Reuters, Associated Press, , Dow Jones, Ask.com , healthcare companies, and major investment banks and hedge funds. Read more: PaidContent. OTHER DEALS: 1.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Google Web Sites 225

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

TechCrunch Europe ran an article in November of last year that European startups need to work as hard as those in Silicon Valley and I echoed the sentiment in my post about the need for entrepreneurs to be maniacal about their businesses if one wants to work in the hyper competitive tech world. Our first big institutional round was $16.5

Entrepreneur 308

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Conference 308

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

As a VC I of course want you to come see only me because that means I have no competition and have time to properly get to know you. If you fold simply because they haven’t responded to your last two emails you won’t have success in business development, sales, press, recruiting … anything. The bottom end of the funnel is hard.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 10, 2011

He did more for Apple’s shareholders, customers and employees than any other CEO has ever done for their shareholders, customers and employees. There are numerous reasons for Jobs’ success, not the least of which was his uncompromising pursuit of a delightful customer experience. free weekly Infochachkie articles!

Tips 279

Tips Startup Santa Barbara Entrepreneur 279

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2019

What every entrepreneur needs more than anything else, after they have built an innovative new product or service, is visibility, credibility, and trust by customers, potential employees, and future business partners. If you use a publisher, they may add more visibility with press releases and book-signing events.

Writing 19

Writing Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 19

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I suppose I should have imagined that this line would get more press than all other comments combined. Huge structural under-employment in much of the country and full employment in some niche tech markets where it’s impossible to hire developers, designers or sales professionals. customers who paid for services often get burned.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Contrary to some press reporting, the boom in startups, the creation of accelerators and seed funds as well as the deserved popularity of AngelList do not signal doom for our industry. Yes, it’s true that FOMO (fear of missing out) is driving some irrational behavior and valuations amongst uber competitive deals and well-financed VCs.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2010

Just because a product has a patent, deep complexity and an obvious competitive advantage does not mean that it can fly by itself into the market. Which button do you press? Why you have to design products for how your customers are , and not how you want them to be. Your remote control has two buttons. didn’t think so.

Startup 175

Startup Venture Capital Slides Blogging 175

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 12, 2016

To watch a young company win 1,000+ seat deals at Global 100 companies at this stage of development has been simply stunning. It was a high bar but even then I must admit that my experience in working with Trevor has exceeded these expectations. Why Invest? making the experience “as easy as buying a book on Amazon.” Chat-based Communications.

Software 105

Software Mobile Artificial Inteligence Oracle 105